10. Django Django - Default
I continue to be surprised by how many people have never even heard of this band. Their album has been popping up on many end-of-year lists, and the band was nominated for the Mercury Prize, yet when I went to see them a couple of months ago at the Echo, one of the smallest venues in town, the show wasn't even sold out. Don't people like to have fun, anymore?
9. Frightened Rabbit - Boxing Night
Depressed, boozy, funny and foul-mouthed... To me, Frightened Rabbit is the quintessential Scottish indie rock band, not to mention one of my favorite bands, period. I cannot wait for their new album. Sure, I just saw them a couple of months ago, but I already have a ticket to see them again in March.
8. Fiona Apple - Anything We Want
Thank god she's back. She was away for so long, but her new album was definitely worth the long wait. I just hope we don't have to wait another seven years for new music.
7. The Shins - It's Only Life
Another band I regret missing at Coachella this year, but they were on at the same time as Jeff freakin' Mangum, and sorry, but Mangum > Mercer. Fun note: I've been told that James Mercer's daughter goes to the same Montessori School as my nephew up in Portland. Anyway, I loooooove this song.
6. Kelly Hogan - Dusty Groove
I've seen Kelly Hogan sing back-up for Neko Case, but after listening to her solo album, I think she should be having a solo career just as big as Neko's. Just gorgeous.
5. Hot Chip - Night And Day
Yeah, I probably should've gone to see Hot Chip headline the Hollywood Bowl, but tickets were damn expensive, and I was holding out hope that they might come back and play a theater show at the Wiltern or something. Oh, well. They still gave us one of the weirdest, most homoerotic and brain-melting music videos of the year (with Terence Stamp and Reggie Watts, no less), directed by Peter Serafinowicz (and only rivaled by their music video for "Don't Deny Your Heart").
4. Metric - Speed The Collapse
I'm continually surprised by how hugely popular Metric have gotten in just the past couple of years after toiling for years as a cult Canadian indie rock band. It helps that Emily Haines is perhaps the sexiest frontwomen in rock today, I guess.
3. The Magnetic Fields - Andrew In Drag
Oh, Stephin Merritt, the Eeyore of indie pop. I still chuckle at these lyrics every time I hear them.
2. Spector - What You Wanted
Like the Of Monsters And Men song, this actually came out in 2011, but I didn't hear it until I was prepping for Coachella this past April, and then it wasn't officially available in the US until it appeared on Spector's debut album this past fall. The band seems to garner a lot of comparisons to The Vaccines, but this song sounds like a better Killers song than anything on The Killers' last album.
1. Rufus Wainwright - Jericho
After his last dreary album (understandable, since it was recorded just after the death of his mother), Rufus came back this year with a sunnier disposition and a pure pop album produced by Mark Ronson. Rufus has written some of my favorite songs of all time, and this one joins the ranks.
Bonus: Azealia Banks - 212
I really didn't know whether to include this song on my list because I thought I actually first heard it in 2011 and probably should've put it on last year's list. Perhaps I should make a separate list of favorite 2011 songs that didn't become favorites until 2012 (I could add The Black Keys' "Gold On The Ceiling" to that list). In any case, Azealia Banks is awesome, this song is awesome, and if I were to include it on this year's list, it'd probably go somewhere in my top 10. Enjoy! (Warning: delightfully and hilariously foul language ahead!)
#Favorited #Music #ConcertReport
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